Wood-graining machine



4 ooooooo l N 0 I 5 0 1 6 6 8 I 3 slieets s heet 1. NNNNNNNNN WOODGRAINING MACHINE; I

- Patented Jul 1111111111 I l i I I (No Model.) N a sheets sheet 2.

' J. SHANNON.

' WOOD GRAINING MACHINE. No. 501,668. Patented July 18, 1893. .N

wrrnsssss myeiu'ron (No Model.) 8 Sheets-Sheet 3. J. SHANNON.

WOOD GRAINING MACHINE.

. Patented July 18, 1893..

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J OI IN S] IANN ON, OF PI'ITSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

WOOD-'GRAINING MACHIANE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 501,668, dated July 18,1893. Application filed May 16, 1892- Serial No. 483,170. (No model.)

.To all whom it mayconcern? Be it known that I, JOHN SHANNON, acitizenof the United States, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Alleghenyand State of Pennsylvania, have invented or discovered certain new anduseful Improvements in Wood-Graining Machines, of which improvements thefol-' lowing is a specification.

The inventlon described herein relates to certain improvements ingraining woods in imitation of the natural grain or growth of hard closegrained Woods, by forming cuts or indentations beneath the surface ofsoft woods and then applying a suitable filler to such cut or indentedsurface. These cuts or indentations have been'made by a roller formed ofa series of cutting disks separated by a series.

of washers of less diameter than the cutting disks, so that the edges ofthe disks will project a suflicient distance into the material broughtin contact therewith.

It is desirable in order to produce the best effects that the cuts orindentations for the filler should be in very close proximity to eachother, separated from each other by an exceedingly thin wall of wood,and it is also desirable that the cuts or indentations should besufficiently deep to permit of apslight planing ofi of the treatedsurfaces, without obliterating the cuts or indentations. When thecutting'disks are arranged on a roller so as to produce cuts or.indentations of the desired depth and proximity to each other, the wallsof wood become jammed between adjacent disks and hence the action of thedisks is to crush or break down the fibers of the surface of the woodrather than to form thin walls.'

The object of the present invention is to produce the cuts orindentations by means of a series of two or more rollers provided withperipheral cutting edges, the cutting edges of one roller being arrangedin a plane passing between the cutting edges of the other roller.

The invention claimed is hereinafter more fully described.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,Figure 1 is a top plan view of a graining machine having my inventionappliedthereto. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of tlie same. Fig. 3 is adiagrammatic view illustrating the manner of arranging the designs onthe rollers as regards the initial points thereof so that the designs onthe roll; ers will properly overlap. Fig. 4 is a view showing the effectproduced by each roller. Fig. 5 is a transverse section of arollershaving the removablesections. Fig.6 is a longitudinalsect ion ofthe same. Figs. 7 and Sare sectional views of a molding and the rollerfor g'raining the same,respectively.-

In the practice ofmyinvention, the-rollers 1, 2 and 3 are mounted insuitable bearings 4 on opposite sides of the bed 5 of the machine. Onthe ends of the shafts of the rollers are secured gearwheels 6, whichare caused to rotate in unison by the interposed pinions 7. A gear wheel8 'on one of the shafts intermeshes with a corresponding wheel on thedriving shaft 9. The rollersare preferably formed of cast steeland theperipheral surfaces thereof are trued up "by turning or grinding. Thecutting or indenting edges 10 are then formed by cutting grooves 11 in amanner similar to that practiced in forming screw threads, except thatthe grooves and cutting edges do not extend spirally along the rollers.The depth to which the grooves are cut is dependent upon the depth ofcut to be .made in the wood and the .width of the grooves is dependentupon the number of intermediate cuts or indentations, as will behereinafter described. After the cutting edges have been formed thesurfaces of the rollers are covered with wax or acid resistingmaterial-, and the design to be produced is then marked on the coatedsurfaces of each of the rollers. coating is then removed from therollers at such parts of the design marked thereon, as are to beinrelief on the wood treated. The rollers are then placed in acid to'eatout the exposed portions of the cutting edges as shown at f, Figs. land8, and the coating is then removed from the other portions of therollers. In lieu of this method of preparing the rollers, the design maybe traced on the rollers in any desired manner, and the cutting edges ofthe rollers at such points of the design as are to be in relief may becutaway with a chisel or in' any other suitable manner.

If desired the operative faces of the rollers may be formed by a seriesof longitudinal sections 12, which can be removably attached to the bodyof the roller by means of adovetail projection 13 on the sectionsfitting cor- The respondiugly shaped grooves in the body of, the roller,as shown in l igs. 5 and (i, or in any other suitable manner. Thesesections are attached to the roller, and the cutting edges and thedesign are formed on their "outer faces in the manner hereinbeforedescribed. The employment of the removable sections permits of easychanges of the designs to be produced without removing the rollers fromthe machine. I

After the rollers have been prepared in the manner described, they areso mounted in their hearings in the machine, that the cuts orindentations b formed by the roller 2 will intermediate of theadjacentcuts a formed by the roller 1. and the cuts or indentations 1.:formed by roller 3 will beiutermediate of the cuts a and l), as clearlyshown in Fig. 4. It will be observed thatthecuts or indentations c arenot only intermediate of adjacent cuts a and b, but are alsointermediate of adjacent cuts 1), and adjacent cuts a.

The arrangement of the cutting edges of one roller with relation tothose of the other rollers may beeffected either by adjusting therollers longitudinally in their hearings or by properly locating thecutting edges upon the rollers during the manufacture thereof.

l-ly ref erence'to Fig. 4, it will be seen that the walls of woodc'formed'by the cutting edges of the roller 1 are comparatively wide andconsequently sufficiently strong to permit of cuts a being quite deepwithout liability of injuring such walls. As the adjacent cutting edgesof the roller 2, straddle the cuts a, these cuts or indentations permitof the two walls of wood formed by roller 2 to close together, thuspreventing a wedging in and consequent crushing down of said wallsbetween adjacent cutting edges of the roller 2. The adjacent cuttingedges of the roller 3 will straddle two cuts or indentations a and I),which will permit of a'greatcr degree of closing in of the walls, andhence there is less liability of wet ging between adjacent cuttingedges, as is desirable on account of the diminished thickness andstrength of such walls.

As the same design is formed on each o'f the rollers it is necessarythat the rollers should be so rotated that the design on the successiveroller or rollers shall exactly overlap the design partially formed onthe board by the roller 1. To this end,the same part of the design oneach roller is taken as an initial point, as indicated at as, y and z,in Fig. 3. These points having been established, the rollers and theirdriving mechanism are so adjusted that whenthe initial point a: on therollerl is directly below the axis of said roller, the initial point ofroller 2 will have reached such a point in its rotation that theperipheral distance between the point of intersection of a verticalplane passing through the axis of roller 2 and the bed of the machine,and the point y, measuring in the direction contrary to that of therotation of the roller, is equal to the distance between the axes of therollers l and 2. The peripheral distance between the initial point z andthe point of intersection of a vertical plane through the axis of roller3 and the bed of the machine, measured in a direction contrary to thatof the rotation of the roller is equal to the distance between the axesof the rollers 1 and 3.

By reference to Fig.4 the clearness and sharpness with which the designis brought out by the multiplicity of cuts and indcnta tions, is clearlyshown. The number of rollers used in producing any given design dependsentircly upon the character of the design, 7 e. whether a high or lowrelief is desired, the number of rollers used increasing with thesharpness or height of'design desired. Hence, I do not limit myself toany specified number of rollers.

\Vhile preferring to employ rollcrs constructed in the manner described,it is evident that rollers consisting of a series of metal disks andinterposed washers may be employed.

The roller herein described is especially adapted for graining moldings,such as shown ill Fig. 7, as theroller can be turned to the desiredcontour asshown in Fig. 8 prior to forming the peripheral cutting edges,whereas the turning of rollers consisting of a series of disks is a verydiliicult operation on account of the thinness of the disks, and theconsequent liability of their edges being turned over. 7

I claim herein as my invention In a wood graining machine, thecombination of a series of two or more rollers, all the rollers beingprovided with cutting edges adapted to produce the same design, saidrollers being successively operative on a board or strip and so arrangedwith reference to each other that the cutting edges of one roller shalllie in a plane passing between the cutting edges of the other roller orrollers, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JOIIN SHANNON.

Witnesses:

DARWIN S. W oLoo'r'r, R. ll. WHITTLE'sEY.

